MISSING HUSBAND RECLAIMS WIFE WHO HAD REMARRIED

When Mohammed Arif, an Indian soldier, returned to this village after being held prisoner in Pakistan for five years, he was given a hero's welcome.

It took only a week for the tone to change. "The hero has become zero," said Haqiqat Ali, a neighbor.

The reason was Arif's decision to reclaim his wife from the man she had married in his absence. Thinking he was a deserter, as the Indian government claimed, and would never return, she married another man and is now pregnant.

But Arif, 26, is a Muslim, and under Shariah, the Islamic legal code, his wife, who had never divorced him, still belonged to him.

He and his wife, Guriya Khan, 22, whose first name means doll, had spent only a few weeks together after their marriage in 1999 before Arif was sent to the peaks of Kargil in Kashmir, where he was captured by Pakistani troops. He was released by Pakistan in a prisoner exchange on Aug. 9, and returned to his village here, 47 miles east of New Delhi, a return that was accompanied by celebratory gunshots and drumbeats and loud music.

When the news broke that he was coming home, his wife expressed little desire to return to him.

"It is not a children's play game, changing husbands," she said. "It is a question of my respect and dignity now. I waited for Arif for four years, but now I don't have feelings for him."

But the prayer leaders at Darul Uloom, the Islamic seminary at Deoband, issued an edict saying that Arif's marriage with Khan was still valid, and that her second marriage, to Tofik Khan, was illegal.

Arif had two options: to take Khan as his wife, or to divorce her and allow her to live with her new husband. He wanted to talk to her before making a decision. He read the Quran three times and was sure about his claim on her.

Khan gave the impression that she was returning to Arif under social and religious pressure. "Shariah and the elders will decide," she said. "My feelings have no importance."

The controversy became even livelier when it shifted to a television studio. Zee Television called all three parties, plus respected prayer leaders, Islamic scholars and Muslim women activists, to broadcast a debate in late September titled, Whose Guriya?

Arif said that if Khan wanted to live with her second husband, he would divorce her. Tofik Khan also agreed that he would respect her choice.

Finally, Khan was asked for her opinion. Visibly shaken, she pulled aside her veil slightly and said: "I will abide by Sharia. I will go with Arif."

Thus was the issue settled according to Islamic law in a television studio during a live broadcast. Arif and Khan agreed to look after the unborn child.

But Aizaz Arshad, who took part in the televised debate as a spokesman for Darul Uloom, disagreed with TV show. "It [TV show] was not needed. The issue was settled earlier under Sharia law. This show was a torture to Guriya and hurt her feelings."

But it did restore Arif's status. "Arif is still the hero," said Mobin Khan, the village head of Mundali, who also took part in the television show. "He accepted his wife even after her second marriage."